Tunescribe

The Patriots finished the season with 31 sacks, one more than last year when Richard Seymour had one of his best seasons. I say BB's decision to ship him out has been vindicated. Looking forward to that extra No. 1 pick, or whomever/whatever it brings.

Richard, by the way, finished the season with a whopping four sacks (including two in his first game as a Raider), tying him for 82nd in the league. Keep in mind that this was in a system designed to maximize his potential as a pass rusher.

Patspsycho

This is a misleading stat. 31 sacks are fine, but 5 of those came in one game, and a game that was meaningless.

We still have a big problem with pass-rushing. Seymour brought a lot to the table in that regard. He brought pressure, and he drew a lot of attention.

We definitely miss Seymour for the short term. Hopefully it works out in the long term.

Calciumee

Also have to look that this would have probably been his last year with the Patriots anyway, unless he wanted less money (doubtful)

I am still pleased with the trade. And think a RAIDERS first round pick is greater than 1 year of Seymour.

xmarkd400x

Seymour's position on the Pats was never as a pass-rusher. Sure, he could do it, and he did get some sacks, but his job was to occupy two blockers and let the linebackers make the plays. You cannot evaluate what he meant to this team by sack numbers alone.

The Patriots would have been a better team with Seymour this year no doubt. However, I am still a fan of the trade.

BradyFTW!

a) clearly, the Raiders' system did not maximize Seymour's talents as a pass rusher. That said, anyone who watched the Raiders/Ravens game this past week saw him disrupt a number of plays by collapsing the pocket, something that nobody on the Pats' roster can do with any consistency.

b) Our top two sackers, Banta-Cain and Burgess, weren't on the team last year. Banta-Cain, who everyone is falling over themselves to praise, got exactly one more sack as a pass-rushing specialist than Seymour did last year, when his pass rushing was secondary to say the least. Imagine how competent the pass rush should have been with both of them and Seymour...

It's really amazing, the lengths some people here will go to to diminish Seymour's talent. If you think the positives of the trade outweigh the negatives, then that's fine, but to pretend that it didn't negatively impact the 2009 defense in a major way is just ridiculous.

Patspsycho

That is how he facilitated the pass-rushing.

xmarkd400x

I agree. That's why you can't measure his contributions by his sack numbers alone. He contributes in ways that stats will not tell.

Tunescribe

Yeah, that goofy Belichick fellow even so far as to TRADE the guy. Some folks just don't know a good thing.

Yet, Seymour's eight sacks in '08 are the first thing his staunchest toadies point to in criticizing the trade. Go figure.

robertweathers

With OAK this year, Seymour himself was pretty much right on his statistical average year. More tackles than normal this year and a little less than a full sack this year. Its logical to assume that he would have helped the pass rush, but with with what the team had to work with this year would the sack totals be higher? It's not like Vrabel, Willie Mac, AD and Colvin are here in their primes and screaming off the edges...

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“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick

Sicilian

I won't say an ill word about Seymour. I think it was the right move to trade him for what we got, but I'll never claim he wouldn't have made a difference this year. He's a premier 3-4 D-Lineman.